So Long
by LemonadeRaid
Summary: ***Now a discontinued one shot! I had a big plan for this but with the progress of the series and the new revelations that have come out of the show, this fic is now irrelevant and I have no desire to continue it*** You can't see what's in front of you until you let go of what's behind you.


**~So Long~**

 **Chapter One**

The sun had just set. It'd illuminated the bright, colourful blue waves of the ocean throughout the afternoon, serving to make a bright day for the residents of Beach City- especially those who cared to journey to the shore or go out in a boat and experience the day in some form or another, if work didn't get in the way. Lars and Sadie had just locked up the donut shop, the amusement park and most of the docks had gone dead silent. People were returning to the neighbourhoods to go to sleep; satisfied with their now-concluded day.

Many people had gotten out and enjoyed the sunlight, most not attenting the beach, however. The exception being Steven Universe, a fourteen year old boy who had spent the entirety of the sunny afternoon outside with his very best friend, Connie Maheswaran. They'd played on the beach for a long time, reading books and having a picnic to themselves while Steven strummed lazily at his ukelele. They'd occasionally go in the water for short spells, but they wouldn't get wet up passed their hips.

But, like all good things, the day eventually came to an end.

A short, curly-haired figure ran inside the house up on the beach. He ran inside the door of a quaint home situated on the side of a tall cliff, carved into the cliff the prominent shape of a legend to Steven and the people he lived with.

Garnet and Amethyst were in the kitchen cleaning up the dinner dishes. The day had been very hot, and Amethyst's eyes were half-lidded and inordinately tired-looking. Garnet, however- well, Steven couldn't really tell. Her eyes (all three of them) were masked by blue and red shades, framing her face and tucking behind her huge hair.

Steven entered the house in a dash, waving to his family in the kitchen. He was about to dash to the couch when menacing blue eyes peered over from that exact location, locking with his dark brown eyes and peering into them.

"Steven," a crisp voice said. "One of these days you are simply going to break your neck- running with wet sandals." the feminine voice's possessor stood, and a tall, skinny white figure making her way over to the boy, who now had a little red tint to his cheeks.

"Sorry." he apologised, averting his eyes as the figure knelt in front of him, inspecting his clothes.

"You're not too wet today, surprisingly."

Steven glanced up again, again locking eyes with his parental figure, a graceful alien gem named Pearl, who served as his caretaker along with the aforementioned Amethyst and Garnet.

The gem smiled tenderly, a white hand lifting up and resting gently on top of the boy's curly hair. Her eyes flicked over to the kitchenette, where her comerade Garnet offered her a smile and nod. She looked back to Steven.

"Are you tired?"

"N..." he trailed off, biting his tongue to hold back a yawn. If he let that out, she would badger him about going to bed. But it was so early.

"Ohh, he's tired." a purple figure chuckled from the other side of the room. "I saw his face when he walked in here." a smaller figure rounded her way around the counter, flashing a smirk over at the pair. "You've had a pretty big day, lil' dude."

"I h-" he started, the opening of his mouth causing a yawn to sneak its way out. And, as he suspected, Pearl wouldn't hear the end of it. After a short time of giving her every reason he could think of pertaining to why he SHOULDN'T have to go to bed, the last straw for her was yet another tired yawn.

Pearl sighed and lifted Steven into her lanky arms, holding him close and beginning to walk to the stairs which led up to his open loft area. He could clearly see the kitchen and living room from up there, and the three other gems had their separate rooms at the back of the house; which could be unlocked and entered by use of the gems on different parts of their bodies. Garnet, being a fusion (combination of two individual gems with different personalities, merged into one who could split at any time but chose not to), with two on each of her hands. Amethyst had one on her chest, Pearl on her forehead, and Steven on his navel.

The older gem presently set Steven down in his soft bed, which caused him to remember just how much of a delight sleep was. He was completely relaxed almost instantly as Pearl stripped him of his clothes and replaced them with pajamas, dressing him with a face of concentration. It was almost as if her life depended on him getting changed for bed, Steven thought with a little amused grin- which she didn't really seem to notice.

"There..." she mumbled, straightening out his yellow shirt and smoothing it with her soft, graceful hands. She soon withdrew, a smile finally coming onto her face.

He yawned almost instantly, which earned a soft chuckle.

"You really are tired," the bemused gem said with an amused expression, standing up straight and smoothing a hand back through her short, light peach-coloured hair.

"Am not," Steven pouted, staring up at her for a short time before a grin split on his face. "...Maybe?"

Pearl snapped her fingers. "I knew it!" she exclaimed, pressing her pointy nose to Steven's as she scooped him up. "You're not very good at hiding it when you're sleepy." she followed up, gently putting him at the front of the bed and lifting the covers so he could wiggle under them.

"Well I had a long daaaay," the boy whined, shifting around and hugging his teddy bear close, turning to look at his stuffed animals and bid them goodnight before turning his attention back to Pearl.

"I know you did. Care to tell me about it? Was it fun?"

"Uhhm," Steven thought, sitting up a little so he could think, small fingers tapping against his side. "Well- Connie and I played out in the sand and ate and...dad came by for a while. And then when he left we kinda splashed around in the water, then I played ukelele and she read some stuff to me and we talked about it." he shrugged, smiling widely. "It was...really nice. I had," his brown eyes looked up at Pearl again, filled with happiness, "a great day."

She brightened at the remark, reaching out to rub his shoulder tenderly. "That's wonderful, Steven. I'm very happy you had a nice day." she leaned close and was about to kiss his forehead, when Steven piped up,

"Did you have a nice day, Pearl?"

She froze and pulled away, offering him a shrug. "Oh, you know, the usual. Those two are a lot of work.." she mumbled under her breath, sarcastically rolling her eyes and then giggling. "But ah well, it was typical. One of these nights the four of us simply must play a board game. Does that s-"

"That sounds like fun!" he chirped, wiggling back down under the covers and yawning. "I wanna do something with you guys. It's been so busy since...everything."

Pearl sighed softly, shrugging and sitting on the bed beside him. "That's true. But everything is on...a hiatus, if you will."

"Hm?"

"Like, a break." she clarified, gesturing with her hands. "All of the action that's been going on is just kind of mellow right now. Which is good, because it allows for the four of us to spend more time together. And, of course, Connie and I get to train some more. She's made real progress."

"She's been telling me." Steven replied softly, grinning up at Pearl.

The gem's mouth twitched into a larger smile. "Well..." she mumbled, thinking for a moment. "Everything since...since a long time ago-" a hand smoothed back through her hair. "has always been pretty calm. Until recently, of course. But please don't let that get in the way of having a good time ahead."

Steven pursed his lips in thought, glancing to the end of the bed before his eyes flickered back to Pearl. "When mom was here, was it peaceful?"

The gem stiffened. Oh she always stiffened. Steven saying the word "mom" set off a tiny spark in her mind, and anyone else saying the word "rose" would do the same. She stayed still for a moment, scanning her mind.

"...Yes," her voice answered softly. "Everything was wonderful. There was little conflict and little worry. It was just...life. We were living life as close to human culture as we'd ever been when we met your father. Everything became normalized."

"That's nice." Steven mused, grinning and staring at the end of the bed for a long moment. "...Pearl?"

"Yes?"

"I..." he trailed off, brain slowing down on him. "Nevermind." Steven eventually decided upon saying after a moment, shaking his head and shrugging. "I don't really know what I was gonna say. I just...it seems like since I've been here, everything's just kinda...not-peaceful."

Pearl looked a tad lost for a moment, either that or blank. Steven couldn't really tell whether she was trying to process what he'd just said or whether she had spaced out and not heard. He opened his mouth to speak again, when she did for him.

"Steven...things were never really calm to start with, at least in my lifetime. If you really think you bring some kind of...bad luck, then that's not true." she assured, reaching out and running her long fingers through his hair reassuringly. "You bring a lot of happiness to our lives, I promise."

Steven smiled a little, a tiny blush coming to his cheeks. It soon faded, however, and a small frown became his expression instead.

"But why is it that, when mom left, bad stuff started happening?"

Pearl bit her lip. "I...it..."

He stared with wide eyes, fully expecting her to come up with the solution to his dilemma. But she couldn't. Every thought that came to her mind made no sense.

"Steven, life...l-life just works like that. There's no answer I can give you. That's just the way things went." she sighed, smoothing his hair softly. "But please know that you caused none of this. I promise this is not your fault."

Steven bit his lip and folded his chubby arms, turning away and staring out the dark window.

"Steven?"

"Hm?"

"I..." Pearl began, her blue eyes watching as he turned back around to look up at her, feeling a sudden exhaustion sweep over her. She failed to make this known to him, however, and smoothed out his hair with her hand again.

"I love you very much, Steven." she spoke, voice soothing as she leaned over to kiss his forehead. A little lump caught in her throat- one that had never occured to her when she spoke those words. The boy grinned, not at all noticing her stiffness. He wrapped his arms around the gem, pulling her into a tight hug.

And for the first time in her life, Pearl found herself uncomfortable in Steven's arms.

The two eventually parted, Steven offering his caregiver a wide smile. "I love you, too." he replied, eyes closing halfway.

Pearl cleared her throat and relaxed,9 her face slightly somber as she pulled the covers around the boy. She pat his head, giving a weak smile and standing up. "Sleep well, Steven." she mumbled sincerely, backing out of his room. The gem turned, her skinny legs carrying her down the staircase until her slipper-clad feet hit the floor of the house again, just in front of the front door.

"She's tired," an accented voice spoke from the kitchen, causing her blue eyes to flicker over to Garnet and Amethyst. The latter was half asleep over the sink, up to her elbows in soapy water and white hair covering most of her tired face.

Pearl stopped and kept looking, eventually giving a gentle sigh and making her way over. "Amethyst, it's your bedtime too."

"Noooo..." she whined.

"Yes, unfortunately." Garnet spoke, rolling her eyes under her thick shades. Her arms slowly went around Amethyst's body, squeezing her gently and lifting the younger quartz into her arms, and slowly beginning to pull her away from the sink. A chuckle escaped Garnet's lips as she hoisted the smaller gem up and walked to the back of the house, carrying the tired dish washer in her arms. Pearl followed, wanting nothing more than to escape to her room for right now.


End file.
